THE SCENARIO: It is July 2016. Despite recently leading Real Madrid to a record 11th European Cup win, coach Zinedine Zidane has suddenly resigned, reportedly due to a dispute with club chairman Florentino Perez over the club’s transfer policy for the upcoming season. Perez has appointed Spanish coach Diego Lima as Zidane’s replacement but will he be able to win the respect of his star studded team and lead them to success or will internal politics unravel Los Blancos’ hopes of becoming the first team to successfully defend the Champions League?

Previous episodes: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3

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1 October 2016

We’ve got six matches this month, beginning with the visit of Eibar. A trip to Andalusia to play Real Betis follows, before a huge Champions League match against Dortmund. The first leg of our Copa del Rey tie (against as yet unknown opponents) will take place between league matches against Bilbao and Alaves.

1 October 2016

Real Madrid vs Eibar

With Ronaldo out injured, I bring in Vazquez in his place, along with Morata and Asensio in place of usual starters Benzema and James. Carvajal and Kroos are also rested, with Danilo and Kovacic filling in.

Despite the changes, we record a comfortable 2-0 win with Vazquez opening the scoring after a great through ball by Asensio. We have chances to score another, but are kept at bay by some great saves by Eibar keeper Yoel. Asensio finally scores the second goal just after half-time to cap a Man-of-the-Match performance. Both he and Vazquez were impressive today, so perhaps Ronaldo will not be as sorely missed as I thought.

15 October 2016

Real Betis vs Real Madrid

With the big Champions League game coming up, I decide to give Ramos and Marcelo a rest. Portuguese duo Pepe and Coentrao start instead. Asensio and Vazquez keep their places after their impressive performances last time out, while Benzema comes back in at Morata’s expense.

Just as they did in our last game, Asensio and Vazquez combine for the opener with the former’s pass finished confidently by the latter. Vazquez then scores his second (and third goal in two games) after a corner is flapped in his direction by former Real keeper Antonio Adan. In the second half, he provides the assist for Asensio to score the third which wraps up an easy win for us. Vazquez even has a late chance to grab his hat-trick, but is denied by Adan.

With the win, we maintain our 5 point lead over Sociedad. If you want to see something funny, look where Barcelona are in the table. They’ve slipped into the relegation zone after yet another draw. That’s SIX points from six matches, and only ONE win so far. Hahahahahaha!

19 October 2016

Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund

A win tonight against Dortmund will give us a five point lead over them in the group, while defeat will put them in the driving seat. Obviously finishing first in the group doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll get easier opponents in the knockout stages, but it does give us the benefit of playing the second leg at home. With that in mind, I play my best team which includes the in form duo of Asensio and Vazquez.

We keep Dortmund’s attacking talents relatively quiet in this one, as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Marco Reus aren’t able to make their mark on the game. The question is whether our attackers can make the difference. Morata has an early chance that is well saved, before Bale opens the scoring with an easy tap in from Marcelo’s cross. Vazquez continues his incredible scoring run with another goal just before half-time to put us up 2-0. In the second half, Morata gets on the scoresheet to settle what turned out to be an easier game than I expected.

23 October 2016

Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao

Our next game is against Bilbao, who (along with ourselves and Barcelona) have never suffered relegation from La Liga. They’re famous for their philosophy of only playing Basque players, and while you might think that limits the talent pool, it seems to work for them. Although, they did try to buy Benzema from us before the season. Not sure what was going on there. It’s almost like we’re in a video game and the developers didn’t code that bit of logic into the game…

As for the match, if you only looked at the 3-0 scoreline you’d think it was a walk in the park for us. It wasn’t really. Bilbao actually dominated us in our own stadium and had more chances. They couldn’t take them, and Vazquez (yep, him again) punished their high defensive line by breaking through to score the opener against the run of play. Undeterred, the Basques continued to create chances but just couldn’t find a way past Navas. Two goals in the last ten minutes by Benzema and Morata gave the scoreline a gloss we didn’t deserve. Still, that’s now nine straight wins in La Liga, and an eight point gap over second placed Sociedad.

25 October 2016

Real Madrid vs Girona

So we’ve found out our Copa del Rey opponents will be Girona from Segunda Liga. We’re at home for the first leg, and I’m hoping for a big win to take the pressure off in the return leg.

Yep, job done. Morata hat-trick. Bale got two, Isco scored. Even Mariano scored. NEXT!

Oh yeah and Asensio got injured. Crap.

29 October 2016

Deportivo Alaves vs Real Madrid

With Asensio out, James has the chance to reclaim his spot in the team. Morata also starts after his hat-trick in the Copa match, while Isco comes in for Bale. The Welshman hasn’t really hit the form we know he’s capable of, and I was hoping he would step up in Ronaldo’s absence. Instead, it’s been Vazquez who’s provided the goals. He starts again after being making a cameo off the bench against Girona.

A nice and confident 2-0 win is secured through goals by James and Morata and it means we’ve now won 10 straight in La Liga. Barcelona and Atletico look to be out of the title race already, which means Sociedad, Sevilla, and Valencia are our main rivals. With all due respect to those teams, I’m not exactly worried about them.